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Technology|Whistle-Blower Sues Meta Over Claims of WhatsApp Security Flaws
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/technology/whatsapp-whistleblower-lawsuit.html
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The former head of security for WhatsApp filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing Meta of ignoring major security and privacy flaws that put billions of the messaging app’s users at risk, the latest in a string of whistle-blower allegations against the social media giant.
In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Northern California, Attaullah Baig claimed that thousands of WhatsApp and Meta employees could gain access to sensitive user data including profile pictures, location, group memberships and contact lists. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, also failed to adequately address the hacking of more than 100,000 accounts each day and rejected his proposals for security fixes, according to the lawsuit.
Mr. Baig tried to warn Meta’s top leaders, including its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, that users were being harmed by the security weaknesses, according to the lawsuit. In response, his managers retaliated and fired him in February, he claims.
Mr. Baig, who is represented by the whistle-blower organization Psst.org and the law firm Schonbrun, Seplow, Harris, Hoffman & Zeldes, argued in the suit that the actions violated a privacy settlement Meta reached with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019, as well as securities laws that require companies to disclose risks to shareholders.
“There are just so many harms that the users face,” Mr. Baig said in an interview last week, adding that he had also alerted the F.T.C. and the Securities and Exchange Commission to his concerns. “This is about holding Meta accountable and putting the interests of users first.”
Meta pushed back on his claims. “Sadly, this is a familiar playbook in which a former employee is dismissed for poor performance and then goes public with distorted claims that misrepresent the ongoing hard work of our team,” said Carl Woog, a spokesman for WhatsApp. “Security is an adversarial space, and we pride ourselves in building on our strong record of protecting people’s privacy.”
